Indicating means



Mar. 13, 1923; 1,448,610.

. B. M. WEINBERGER.

INDICATING MEANS. FILED MR. 3. 1921.

I m/en for:

Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

warren aria-ass Banana" M. wnrnisnnsnn, 0F MILWAUKEE; wrsoon's'rn.

INDICATING MEANIS.

Application filed March 3,

To all wlwm it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN M. Warm; BERGER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indicating Means, of which. the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which are a part of this specification. 7 I

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in indicating means and refersmore particularly to means of this character adapted to be applied to guest rooms in a hotel or any similar establishment.

At the present time, it is impossible for the chamber maid to ascertain'whether a guest is in the room without trying to enter with a pass key, which is annoying and disturbing to the guest and also consumes a large part of the maids time. Some hotels have sought to solve this perplexing problem by the crude and expensive method of placing a towel on the door knob of each room early in the morning and from time to time the maid passes through the hall and whenever a towel is missing she assumes the guest is out and the room ready for her services.

Hence with the above and other objections in mind-to the present system of running an establishment of the hotel class, it is one of the objects of this .invention to provide means mounted on the outside of each guest room door and operable by the turning of the lock bar actuating bolt to indicate when the door is locked'or unlocked, from the inside,'and consequently whether the room is occupied.

My invention has for another object to provide means independent of the lock actuated indicating means and which is set by the maid after the room has been prepared to indicate that the same is in condition to receive a guest.

A further object of this invention is to provide the turn bolt actuated indicating means and the maid actuated means, which latter means is automatically moved to nonindicating position upon the locking of the door from the inside.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a device of the class described which will not, in any manner, mar the appearance of a door, which is easily and 1921. Serial No. 449,286.

quickly securable to the standard type- 0f hotel door in which the means for locking the door from the inside consistof a-slide 7 bar and a turn bolt therefor,-or which mayv readily'be applied to door locks at the time of their manufacture.

With the above and other objects inview which will appear asthe description-proceeds, my invention resides in the-novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the ap' pended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein disclosed invention may be made as Come within the scope'of the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, I have illustrated one. complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention constructed according to. the'best mode I have so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which Figure '1 is a front View of an indicator embodying my invention, illustrating the parts. in the position they occupy when the. room is made up and prepared for a guest; 'FigurefZis a viewv similar to Figure 1 il-' lustrating the indicator showing that the room is occupied; r

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 il-Y lustratingv the indicator as showing that the room is unoccupied and ready for the maids attention;v I

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken through" Figure 1 on the lined-t; 1 Figure 5 is .a sectional view taken through Figure 2 on the line.55; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentarysectiona-l detail view taken through Figure 4 on the line 66.

Referring now more pa'rticularlyto the accompanying drawing in which like 1111- merals designate like parts throughout the several views: I

The numeral 7 designates the door entering, into a guest room and provided with a.

recess 8 inv which is fixed a longitudinally slotted sleeve 9 having a locking boltfor sliding bar 10 mounted therein, The bar 10 has rack teeth 11 registering with the sleeve slot and which are engaged by a pinion 12 to slide the same into and out of a locking recess in the door jamb, not shown. The bar 10 is preferably operated to lock the door from the inside of the room only,

and is actuated by a turn bolt 13 having a squared shank portion 1401? bolt 13 extends beyond the gear 12 in order that no difiiculty will be encountered in placing a standard lock on doors of varying thickness, and the present invention is preferably connected with'the extended end-of the squaredshank 14.

The general lock construction of the door embodies a metal plate 16 secured to the exterior thereof and the plate 16 and door 7 are drilled or bored, at 17, to register "with the opening '18 in which the gear 12 and bolt 13 are positioned. Projected into the bore 17 is a sleeve 19 having its inner end'provided with opposed pairs of struckin spacedportions 20 to provide means for engaging opposed corners of the free end of the squared end 14 whereby said sleeve will be secured on said shank. end of said sleeve extends slightly beyond the plate 16 and has secured thereon a disk or plate '21, which disk has thereon suitable indicating means 22 and 23, representing preferably red and white, respectively. Completely enclosing the outer end of sleeve 19 and the disk 21 is a guard housing or casing '24: consisting of a circular plate having its central portion raised or struck upwardly. and secured to the door by fastening members 25, the raised portion of the housing having an opening 26 with which the indicatingi means 22 and 23 are adapted to register.

' The connection between the bolt 13 and. bar 10 is such that practically but a half turn of the knob 15 is necessary to lock and unlock the door, and therefore the indicating. means 22 and23 are substantially dia metrically opposite and when the bar 10 is in locked position, the indicating means 22 will be in register with opening 26, and

' when in unlocked position indicating means 23 will be in register therewith. Slidably mounted on the extreme outer end of sleeve 19, intermediate disk 21 and the central wall Said plate 27 is readily releasably secured in either of its two positions by an outr' struck portion 29 which is engageable, when the plate is in position away from the openmg in a notch or recess 30 in the housing 2 1 and which is engageable in a recess or notch portion 81 when said plate member 27 is closing the opening 26. The plate member 27 is normally yieldably urged to engage the inner wall of the guard housing 24 by a washer 32 confined between the disk The outer 21 and the plate 16, as best shown in Figures 4; and 5. p I The disk 21 has a projection or out-struck portion 83 on its outer face at the indicating means 22 so that, should the plate member 27 be closing the opening 26, a locking of the bar 10 by the guest Wlll swing said disk ures 2 and 5, said plate member being only i free to be moved to its position closing said openlng when the bar member 10 1s 1n unlocked position and the indicating means 23 in register with the opening.

The method of using this invention upon guest rooms of a hotel is substantially as follows: i 7

When a guest'is in the room and has the door locked, the indicating means 22 will be visible through opening '26 and the maid, will, at a glance, be able to ascertain that the room is occupied and consequently will not annoy the guest by rattling the door in order to see if the same is locked. When the guest unlocks the bar 10 to leave the room, the indicating means 23 is moved to register with the opening 26 and the maid can then readily ascertain that the room is unoccupiedand ready for her to enter and After the connection with the accompanying drawing, it will be readily apparent to those skilled-J in the art to which an invention of this character appertains that I have provided means which will perform its functions in a satisfactory manner, and which is so designed that all the parts there of may be stamped from sheet metal, if desired, and which may be easily and quickly applied to doors at the time of their erection or to doors now in use.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means in-" cluding a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side of the door, of means on the outerside of the door and operable upon rotation of the turn .bolt to indicate the position of the locking means, second indicating means I movable to and from indicating position independently of said turn bolt and adapt ed to cover the first mentioned indicating means, and meansfor readily releasably securing said second indicatingmeans in either of its two positions.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means including a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side of the door, of means on the outer side of the door and operable upon rotation of the turn bolt to indicate the position of the locking means, and second indicating means movable to an indicating position covering the first mentioned indicating means.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means including a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side of the door, of means on the outer side of the door and operable upon rotation of the turn bolt to indicate the position of the locking means, second indicating means movable to an indicating position covering the first mentioned indicating means, and means carried by said first mentioned indicating means for moving said second indicating means upon a rotation of said turn bolt to lock said locking means.

4-. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means including a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side or the door, or" means on the outer side of the door and operable upon rotation of the turn bolt to indicate the position of the looking means and including a disk connected with and rotatable by said turn bolt and two indicating means on said disk, one indicating means being visually displayed when the bolt has been turned to lock said locking means and the other when said bolt has been turned to unlock said locking means, and means adapted to be moved to conceal the indicatin means displayed when the locking means is in unlocked position.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means including a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side of the door, of means on the outer side of the door and operable upon rotation of the turn bolt to indicate the position of the locking means and including a disk connected with and rotatable by said turn bolt and two indicating means on said disk, one indicating means being visually displayed when the bolt has been turned to lock said locking means and the other when said bolt has been turned to unlock -said locking means, and independent indicating means movable to indicating position only when said turn bolt has been turned to unlock said locking means.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination with door locking means including a turn bolt rotatable from the inner side of the door, of means on the outer side bolt has been turned to lock said locking means and the other when said bolt has been turned to unlock said locking means, independent indicating means movable to indicating position only when said turn bolt has been turned to unlock said locking means, and means for moving said independent indicating means from indicating position upon a turning of said bolt to lock the locking means.

7 In a device of the class described, the combination with a door lock actuating bolt adapted to be rotated in one direction to lock the door and in a reverse direction to unlock the door, of a sleeve having its inner end connected with the inner end of said bolt, a plate carried by the outer end of said sleeve and rotatable with said sleeve and bolt, said plate having two indicating means thereon, a guard enclosing said plate and having an opening with which one of said plate carried indicating means registers when the bolt is in locked position and with which the other indicating means registers when said bolt is in unlocked position, and a second plate movable to close said guard opening only when said bolt is in unlocked position.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination with a door lock actuating bolt adapted to be rotated in one direction to lock the door and in a reverse direction to unlock the door, of a sleeve having its inner end connected with the inner end of said bolt, a plate carried by the outer end of said sleeve and rotatable with said sleeve and bolt, said bolt having two indicating means thereon, a guard enclosing said plate and having an opening with which one of said plate car ried indicating means registers when the bolt is in locked position and with which the other indicating means registers when said bolt is in unlocked position, a second plate movable to close said guard opening only when said bolt is in. unlocked position, and means carried by said first plate and engageable with said second plate, should the same be in position closing said opening, to move said second plate to clear the guard opening upon said bolt being moved to locked position.

9. An indicating means for a door provided with a locking means, comprising a means for indicating that the door has been opened and then looked from the inside, and means for indicating that the door has been unlocked fromv the inside.

10. An indicating means {or a door provided with a locking means, comprising a means for indicating that the lock hasnot been operated and movable by the locking means to a position to indicate that the door has-been locked and movable to another position by the locking means to indicate that the door has been unlocked.

11. An indicating means, comprising a door'having a lock member,.a nd means operated by thejlock member for indicating when the door has been unlocked and then looked 10 and then unlocked again. Intestimony whereof, I afiixomy signature.

- BENJAMIN M. WEINBER ER; 

